Miami Ice: Freon Smuggling Rivals Contraband in Drugs

Miami Ice: Freon Smuggling Rivals Contraband in Drugs

Article excerpt

Forget marijuana, exotic animals, or Mayan archaeological
treasures. One of the hottest illicit items among Florida's
smugglers today is a gas coolant used in air conditioners and
refrigerators.

It's called freon or CFC-12. And the black market in this potent
chemical is thriving.

"After illicit drugs, chlorofluorocarbons have become the most
lucrative contraband being smuggled into the United States," says
Michael Sheehan, a US Customs Service agent in Miami.

An estimated 10,000 tons of it will be smuggled into the US this
year. Federal officials say "it's becoming like gold" for
traffickers. Miami has become the central port for its entry and
distribution.

The trade is spurred by an international agreement, known as the
1987 Montreal Protocol, that bans the manufacture of CFCs in 140
industrialized countries by the end of this year. There is evidence
that the chemical erodes the earth's protective ozone layer.

To encourage the use of substitutes that do not harm the ozone
layer, the Federal Government imposes a tax of $5.35 a pound on all
sales of CFCs, and retail prices have soared to $15 a pound from $1
in 1989.

Black marketerrs can make huge profits by buying the chemical
from Russia and other countries and selling it here for less than
the taxed product. The illegal shipments cost the US government
more than $100 million a year in lost excise taxes and customs
duties.

"The black-market refrigerant generally makes its way to
distributors or automobile repair shops, where it's used in the
repair and maintenance of older air conditioners," says Thomas A.
Watts-Fitzgerald, an assistant US attorney in Miami. "Most of the
indictments that have been handed down so far are against people
who are legitimately involved in the automobile repair business."

Unlike the illegal-drugs business, smuggling in CFCs is
considered a more palatable way to make illegal money. "Your
average freon smuggler is a white-collar criminal who can still
look at himself in the mirror," says a federal prosecutor in Miami. …